RF sensors that acquire and measure RF data are used in a variety of applications. A vector signal analyzer is one example of such an RF sensor. In some applications, networks of two or more RF sensors are used to acquire, timestamp, and buffer RF data. The RF sensors typically exchange timing information to synchronize each sensor to a common time. When one RF sensor in the network detects a feature of interest in its acquired RF data, the RF sensor generates and transmits a time-stamped message to the other RF sensors in the network. The time-stamp allows each RF sensor to read the RF data corresponding to the same period of time from its buffer.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network of RF sensors in accordance with the prior art. Network 100 includes two RF sensors 102, 104 connected together via cable 106. When RF sensor 102 detects a feature of interest, controller 108 transmits a time-stamped message to RF sensor 10 using cable 106. The time-stamp allows RF sensor 104 to obtain the appropriate time-stamped RF data from buffer 110. Similarly, RF sensor 102 obtains the appropriate time-stamped RF data from buffer 112 when controller 114 transmits a time-stamped message to RF sensor 102.
Unfortunately, cable 106 limits the distance that can exist between RF sensor 102 and RF sensor 104. This limitation restricts the size of the geographical area a network of RF sensors can monitor. Thus, more than one network of RF sensors is typically needed to monitor large geographical areas, thereby increasing the costs of monitoring the large geographical areas.